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DontEatRawHagis
2012-10-28, 11:08 AM
I have a game in about three hours. So far the dungeon has been:

Kobalds
Traps
Golems
Medusa with Golem/Orge sized body guards.


What type of items would you expect to get upon beating the final boss?

So far I have a few plot related items, but I don't have anything that could help the players build their characters further.

Players are:
Fighter/Shield
Mage/Survivalist
Cleric/Necromancer
Thief

Thanks in advance. Just need ideas, not necessarily actual loot from 3.5e or 4e.

Grod_The_Giant
2012-10-28, 12:01 PM
You can always roll the treasure randomly. (At least if it's 3.5). You can also ask your players for wish-lists: a few items from each category that they wouldn't mind getting as treasure.

Hylas
2012-10-28, 12:14 PM
There are rewards other than items if you want to be unorthodox and make rules lawyers cringe.

You can give out skill points or feats, either predetermined or letting them choose. I once had a dungeon where the party had to split up and solve puzzles individually. Each puzzle had multiple ways to solve it and depending on how it was solved it gave the player a 1/day spell-like ability.

But if you want real items here's some ideas (may need to be adjusted based on level)

Fighter: Shield with Defending armor spikes +2. Shield that can transform into power armor.
Mage: Magical house/tower/castle/tent that can shrink into a small item for carrying around. Portable door that connects to a demiplane (have the mage cast shrink item or similar spell to carry it around).
Cleric: Magical icon that aids in commanding undead/boosts the strength of commanded undead.
Thief: Money in unmarked bills. :smallwink:

hymer
2012-10-28, 01:31 PM
Just some random thoughts:

The medusa is likely to be carrying a few scrolls, potions or similar to deal with the occasional unintentional petrification - or for use in forcing/blackmailing people into doing what she wants.

One of the big bodyguards has a magical buckler, which just happens to make a fine shield the size of which the fighter uses. Or maybe some sort of addition to a shield - maybe something to smear on a surface to make it reflective, in case he needs to go up against his boss-lady.

One of the traps can be taken along as treasure, or some of the poison on it used as a weapon.

A petrified person is holding a book/scroll/orb/something the wizard is interested in. They'll have to spend some resources getting it, but you get to add some mystery to it. Who is the victim? How will s/he react if unpetrified?

The golems fall apart when destroyed, revealing the pulsating, red jewel inside them, which powers them. Maybe it's just valuable as a gemstone, maybe it's something more.

PersonMan
2012-10-28, 03:03 PM
There are rewards other than items if you want to be unorthodox and make optimizers cringe.

How one would accomplish this without giving a "reward" like "yeah your next feat must be Skill Focus(Underwater Basketweaving" is beyond me.

I second the 'ask your players for ideas' thing. Don't always give them exactly what they ask for, though, or their birthdays killing other things won't be as exciting.

some guy
2012-10-28, 07:00 PM
Ornate lifelike sculptures, worth 3d4*100 gp each. Yeah, they're petrified beings, but after being petrified the medusa practiced her hobby of sculpting on them. So casting Stone to Flesh on them will not destroy the treasure, but also leave the victims in horrible pains (if the sculpting does not out right kill them).

Or, if you're feeling less evil, petrified adventurers returned to flesh reward the PC's with items, or even better; treasure maps (it's treasure AND an adventure hook!).

Slipperychicken
2012-10-28, 08:09 PM
There are rewards other than items if you want to be unorthodox and make optimizers cringe.


I once cringed at a Breastplate of Magic Immunity. It's just... so broken.


Ornate lifelike sculptures, worth 3d4*100 gp each. Yeah, they're petrified beings, but after being petrified the medusa practiced her hobby of sculpting on them. So casting Stone to Flesh on them will not destroy the treasure, but also leave the victims in horrible pains (if the sculpting does not out right kill them).

That could be very fun, depending on how long they've been petrified... Or the PCs can get treasure from the petrified adventurers as thanks for freeing them.

Hylas
2012-10-28, 08:19 PM
Actually I was thinking of rules lawyers. I don't know why I said optimizers. I'll go change my post.

Frozen_Feet
2012-10-28, 08:21 PM
I consider myself lucky if I get out alive, and if not, hope for a swift and painless death. ;3

JohnnyCancer
2012-10-28, 08:47 PM
The Medusa petrified someone with a bounty. The party can haul the statue in to town to collect the reward, but it might be difficult.

NichG
2012-10-28, 09:17 PM
What I'd expect might be different from what could be cool to find.

I'd expect: possibly a petrified wizard and his things - likely a used manual of golem creation somewhere in there. If any of the statues have unpetrified equipment, i.e. something that was cool enough to make the save when they failed it, I'd be excited about that. A source of Stone to Flesh might also make sense, in case the medusa wanted to interrogate or otherwise interact with someone she petrified in haste while defending herself.

What would be cool to find: Perhaps something that turned a normal person into a medusa - an elixir with transformative properties, or a cursed object. The wizard's journal, hinting at why things went this way and giving clues to follow up on - perhaps the wizard was studying the relic of some serpentine deity, and the medusa was sent as punishment; in that case, the relic might still be around. An enchanted mirror won at large effort and risk by the medusa - the enchantment lets her scry, and is the only way she can safely view her own visage (even though medusae don't work that way in D&D its a neat story).

Slipperychicken
2012-10-28, 09:18 PM
The Medusa petrified someone with a bounty. The party can haul the statue in to town to collect the reward, but it might be difficult.

Or Stone to Flesh him. Then if he's dead, cast Gentle Repose (so people can recognize him and collect the bounty). If he's alive, heal and hogtie him, then bring him in. Either way reduces the weight by a lot, and keeps the bounty collectible.

Ravenica
2012-10-28, 09:19 PM
Candy! Trick or Treat!

Slipperychicken
2012-10-28, 09:43 PM
Candy! Trick or Treat!

A kind old woman lives alone at the back of the dungeon. When the PCs try to break her door in, she steps forward, offering them candy and fresh tea if they'd like to stay.

If the PCs eat the candy they get a nonmagical Haste effect (plus some temp hp) from the sugar-high, lasting for 1d4+1 minutes. It's also the best candy they've ever eaten.

The candy is made of children. The old woman has a magical house made of candy (Hansel and Gretel ripoff) on ground level to which she lures children and makes them into candy, and gifts her excess children-candy to anyone who stops by. She is willing to pay generously (100gp a head, plus a few pieces of Haste-candy) for any children the PCs will kidnap for her. Naturally, children are a crucial ingredient for the candy, and "it's just not the same" without them.

If the PCs decide to attack the old woman, she's a Witch of appropriate CR (Alchemist, Wizard, or Sorcerer classes could work too. I just love imagining a kind old woman throwing bombs at people :smallbiggrin:). On her body is a few pieces of hand-wrapped candy, and a several formulas, including one for child-candy (live children are on the ingredients list, of course. The recipe recommends using cute, young, well-behaved children around 5 years of age. They make the candy sweeter, and are necessary for the Haste effect).

In the house proper, the PCs can find various potions, baked goods, spell components totaling ~200gp in resale value, an alchemy lab complete with rare and valuable reagents, children's clothes, a male child being baked alive in an oven, and female one tied to a chair nearby. If rescued, the now-traumatized children will tell the PCs that the Witch tricked them into coming to the house, stuffed them full of candy, and began baking them. The PCs will be rewarded with a few hundred gold if they return the children (or their bodies) to their parents, who have been worried sick since their children haven't come home in three days. If they do not rescue the children, the next town they stop in asks them if they've seen two children matching the descriptions of the ones in the house, and offer a reward for their safe return.

tbok1992
2012-10-28, 10:18 PM
I have a game in about three hours. So far the dungeon has been:

Kobalds
Traps
Golems
Medusa with Golem/Orge sized body guards.


What type of items would you expect to get upon beating the final boss?

So far I have a few plot related items, but I don't have anything that could help the players build their characters further.

Players are:
Fighter/Shield
Mage/Survivalist
Cleric/Necromancer
Thief

Thanks in advance. Just need ideas, not necessarily actual loot from 3.5e or 4e.

First, I must ask, who is the final boss going to be?

DontEatRawHagis
2012-10-28, 10:41 PM
First, I must ask, who is the final boss going to be?

Oh it was the Medusa. Though the Medusa had the only way to banish a demon terrorizing a town.

It ended up going pretty well. Thank you all for the advice. In the end, I had a few spell books lying around as well as a religious tome for the cleric. I still need to engage the Fighter and Rogue a bit more, but so far success. The Rogue got a fine amount of loot. The Wizard used one of the spell books to create a golem hedgehog familiar, which she seemed to enjoy. As well as a couple of spell books that were missing from the Mage Academy's library. Three of which are still missing and will be involved in an overarching plot.

I was a bit rushed today because I had another game scheduled immediately afterwards, as player.


the PCs can get treasure from the petrified adventurers as thanks for freeing them.

I was surprised to see a lot of people post about saving the people petrified. I actually ran the Medusa a bit differently, Petrification was permanent.:smallamused: The players retrieved special items(not magical) that allowed them to look onto the Medusa without turning to stone. Which granted a surprise round as the Medusa wasn't expecting them to have them(only her subjects wore them).

My players were legitimately afraid of the Medusa and had an easy time of beating her. The fight ended up a bit anti-climatic, but I have them hooked on the next story.

Thank you all again.

Slipperychicken
2012-10-29, 09:42 AM
Petrification was permanent.:smallamused:

The Medusa entry already says it's permanent. We meant using things like Break Enchantment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/breakEnchantment.htm) as the usual go-to for removing Petrification. Or, at the very least bringing the petrified back to town where a mid-level Cleric might eventually save them.


...What if someone cast Make Whole on a petrified subject? That ought to restore their "true" stone form, so they don't get damaged when they're Stone-to-Flesh'd.

DontEatRawHagis
2012-10-29, 06:11 PM
We meant using things like Break Enchantment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/breakEnchantment.htm) as the usual go-to for removing Petrification. Or, at the very least bringing the petrified back to town where a mid-level Cleric might eventually save them.


...What if someone cast Make Whole on a petrified subject? That ought to restore their "true" stone form, so they don't get damaged when they're Stone-to-Flesh'd.

Permanent. To the point where the person is killed as a result of their brain and blood turning to stone. Maybe if they had access to a time machine, but aside from that dead is dead. Resurrection possible.

ReaderAt2046
2012-10-29, 06:22 PM
Did the fighter stab, cut, or otherwise draw Medusa blood? Because if so, you could rule that the blood imbued the sword with a little petrification magic, so that on rare occasions (perhaps on a crit, or on double 20s) hitting something with the sword petrifies it.

Slipperychicken
2012-10-29, 06:28 PM
Permanent. To the point where the person is killed as a result of their brain and blood turning to stone. Maybe if they had access to a time machine, but aside from that dead is dead. Resurrection possible.

Someone's killed from having all his matter turned to stone... but not brought back to life when it's turned back into the same stuff (and in the same configuration, no less) as normal? :smallconfused:

Craft (Cheese)
2012-10-29, 10:22 PM
Someone's killed from having all his matter turned to stone... but not brought back to life when it's turned back into the same stuff (and in the same configuration, no less) as normal? :smallconfused:

You could houserule that a medusa's petrifying gaze is imprecise and doesn't leave the stone body in *exactly* the same configuration it was in before, so even if you broke the enchantment to turn their body back into flesh, you'd find that all of their blood vessels had been destroyed from the inside or something. But it's just that, a houserule.

I'd argue against doing something like that though: My favorite rewards are story rewards. Like, one of the victims they save is a long-lost family member, or the son or daughter of someone really important.

Gavinfoxx
2012-10-29, 10:55 PM
What edition is this, and what level is it?

DontEatRawHagis
2012-10-29, 10:57 PM
I'd argue against doing something like that though: My favorite rewards are story rewards. Like, one of the victims they save is a long-lost family member, or the son or daughter of someone really important.

It boiled down to the mood I was trying to set. Up until this point the players had been going up against Kobolds, so I decided to kick it up a notch.

I agree that other ways make it interesting in different ways. While I didn't have plot hooks based around the people petrified, it did help come across to the players that failure would be fatal.

Slipperychicken
2012-10-29, 11:19 PM
I'd argue against doing something like that though: My favorite rewards are story rewards. Like, one of the victims they save is a long-lost family member, or the son or daughter of someone really important.

He could also have been one of the Medusa's first victims, having been petrified for years or even decades. Then the PCs could be awarded with some cool RP as they try to help this guy get back home... perhaps in a world which isn't quite the same anymore. Which could have a tone anywhere from sweet (family is still around, they hug him tightly as he returns, and they give the PCs some gold and fame) to dark (it's been too long, the family/lovers have long since moved on, disappeared, died, or think he's a stranger/hallucination/illusion).

Craft (Cheese)
2012-10-29, 11:26 PM
Or another idea the RAW probably doesn't support, but I'm gonna toss out anyway: The person they save has actually been petrified for thousands of years, and was in fact a scholar of the history of their now (long-gone) civilization that modern archaeologists know basically nothing about. It could be one of the greatest finds of the century.

Slipperychicken
2012-10-30, 12:51 AM
Or another idea the RAW probably doesn't support, but I'm gonna toss out anyway: The person they save has actually been petrified for thousands of years, and was in fact a scholar of the history of their now (long-gone) civilization that modern archaeologists know basically nothing about. It could be one of the greatest finds of the century.

Thousands of years... The guy would probably speak a dead language, and any languages surviving from that time would have long since morphed beyond recognition. You know how most English speakers can't read or understand Shakespeare? He was only about 500 years ago.


Wikipedia; History of the English Language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_language)
Written Old English of AD 1000 is [...] completely unintelligible to modern speakers, while the modern language is already largely recognisable in written Middle English of AD 1400.

And that's just one thousand years ago. You'd definitely need magic to communicate properly beyond a ~600 years of time difference. Which makes time travel in general massively awkward, now that I think about it...

TuggyNE
2012-10-30, 12:55 AM
And that's just one thousand years ago. You'd definitely need magic to communicate properly beyond a ~600 years of time difference.

To be fair, English is one of the most dynamic and unstable languages around. Add to that the fact that most settings have extremely long-lived races that speak well-known languages (e.g. Elves with Common), and it's quite possible that a particular tongue would be at least minimally understandable even without magic.

Craft (Cheese)
2012-10-30, 12:59 AM
Thousands of years... The guy would probably speak a dead language, and any languages surviving from that time would have long since morphed beyond recognition. You know how most English speakers can't read or understand Shakespeare? He was only about 500 years ago.

And that's just one thousand years ago. You'd definitely need magic to communicate properly beyond a ~600 years of time difference. Which makes time travel in general massively awkward, now that I think about it...

Tongues (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/tongues.htm) is a second-level bard spell. It's not a problem.

MarsRendac
2012-10-30, 01:05 AM
To be fair, English is one of the most dynamic and unstable languages around. Add to that the fact that most settings have extremely long-lived races that speak well-known languages (e.g. Elves with Common), and it's quite possible that a particular tongue would be at least minimally understandable even without magic.

English IS dynamic in that it includes more loanwords than most (or all) other languages, but there are other languages that have changes just as significant. Ancient Chinese languages (there were dozens) would be completely impossible to understand for the non-anthropologist/archaeologist Chinese-literate person, not to mention that in China, there is one written language while there are several spoken languages. German is fairly similar in that modern German is mutually intelligible with Danish whereas it's not considered as such when regarded with Low German (still spoken in Lower Saxony), which is presumably, but not actually, more related.

Regardless of my pedantry, I agree on the second count. We're talking about an RPG. Virtually anything, least of all the progression of a language, need be under a microscope as long as it doesn't interfere with 1) fun or 2) suspension of disbelief.